Lucy and Charlotte Donmoyer have been 'gifts' to the Jacksonville women's lacrosse program

This is the story of a little girl, as typical as little girls get.

Lucy Donmoyer loved her two dogs, Phin the Goldendoodle and Fitz the Golden Retriever. She also had a pet hermit crab, "Crabalicious."

Her favorite Disney princess was Ariel and her favorite family trip, no surprise, was to Disney World.

Lucy loved to draw and paint and to get her nails done. She loved the movie series "Guardians of the Galaxy."

Mostly she loved her mother Jessica, her father Jordan and her little sister Charlotte, three years younger.

It’s also the story of a team, a dominant team in its sport and conference that was never too busy winning to lose sight of how insignificant that actually was to the big picture.

Through Lucy Donmoyer, who battled neuroblastoma for more than three years, the Jacksonville University lacrosse team saw a different kind of warrior mentality and spirit. The Dolphins connected with Lucy and her family through Friends of Jaclyn, a foundation that pairs victims of serious pediatric illnesses with high school and college athletic teams, and discovered one of life's tried and true lessons: love given is often received tenfold.

"What Lucy and her family do for us is shine this light," JU coach Tara Singleton said. "Good times, bad times, there's always a smile to be had, something to be happy for.

"That's the gift they've given us."

JU lacrosse: playing for something bigger

One year ago, Lucy Donmoyer led the Dolphins onto the field at Rock Stadium for the ASUN Tournament Championship game.

Four months later, she passed away at her home at the age of 8, surrounded by her family.

But the relationship between the JU lacrosse program and the Donmoyer family has remained just as strong, as evidenced by who was at the head of the line when the team walked onto the field on May 4 for the 2024 ASUN title game : 5-year-old Charlotte.

The connection has also continued with the change of coaches from Mindy McCord to Singleton.

"As seamless as you can imagine," said Jordan Donmoyer. "This team is amazing. Their culture is amazing. We love these girls so much."

The feeling is mutual and the love the players and coaches developed for Lucy has carried over to Charlotte.

Consider the immediate aftermath of JU's 10-9 loss to Coastal Carolina in the ASUN championship. It was a devastating defeat for the Dolphins' senior class who had known nothing but winning ASUN titles during their time on campus. It was the first time JU had ever lost an ASUN tournament game on their home field and it broke a streak of six consecutive conference titles and NCAA berths.

But minutes after it ended, with tears still in their eyes, there was still time for Charlotte.

JU senior Quinn Malcom showed Charlotte how to grip a lacrosse stick. Another senior, Mackenzie Boyle, knelt to console the child, then picked her up and carried her from the field.

"Charlotte loves us whether we win or lose," Boyle said.

"We play for Lucy and Charlotte and their family every day," said senior Lauren Ellis. "They've taught us to play for something bigger than just the game. It's bigger than lacrosse."

Jessica Donmoyer said the JU players "are always as sweet as they can be."

"You can tell how Lucy has made such an impact on their lives," she said. "We’re grateful for the way they have been a part of our lives."

Lucy's neuroblastoma turned 'high-risk'

Lucy was as healthy as most kids until the spring of 2020 when she was 5 years old. Her mother said the symptoms came fast: at first, Lucy easily bruised. Then there were signs of anemia, paleness and fever.

Lucy developed hip and back pain and a distended stomach. After rounds of tests, they got the worst news parents can get, that their daughter had one of the most serious forms of childhood cancer.

Neuroblastoma attacks nerve cells. As in Lucy's case, most of the time it begins in the abdomen and spreads quickly and frequently unnoticed until it's too late.

Doctors discovered that Lucy had "high-risk neuroblastoma," which has a five-year 50 percent survival rate according to the American Cancer Society website. If it attacks the brain, as it eventually did with Lucy, the survival rate drops to 10 percent.

The only treatments possible were drastic. During numerous trips to Wolfson Children’s Hospital, Nemours Children's Health and one to Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, Lucy underwent chemotherapy, immunotherapy, bone marrow transplants, radiation, emergency surgery for a tumor in her abdomen and another in her brain.

During the process, Jordan and Jessica Donmoyer began focusing on the quality of whatever time they had left with their daughter.

Enter Friends of Jaclyn.

Friends of Jaclyn connects children with teams

FOJ has three programs: "Adopt a Child," which pairs children battling pediatric brain tumors or other forms of childhood cancer with sports teams to make them honorary members; "Safe on the Sidelines," which helps the siblings of ill children; and the "Guardian Angel," which offers support to the children throughout the stages of their fight against cancer.

The foundation has matched children with more than 900 college and high school teams, including Penn State football, Iowa women's basketball, Georgia men's basketball and Florida baseball, softball and volleyball.

JU women's lacrosse and softball and University of North Florida men's basketball, softball and women's soccer also have participated in the past.

Lucy's mother Jessica Donmoyer owns and manages a hair salon at the Town Center, Aura, where JU athletic director Alex Ricker-Gilbert gets his haircuts. After Jordan Donmoyer heard about FOJ, his wife asked Ricker-Gilbert if there was a team at the school that could adopt Lucy.

Ricker-Gilbert didn't hesitate to suggest the Dolphins women's lacrosse team, which at the time was still under McCord, the program's first coach who had built not only a powerhouse but established a culture of academic achievement and community involvement.

"I could think of no better team than our lacrosse team," Ricker-Gilbert said.

From the time Lucy's parents took her to her first JU practice the bond was almost instantaneous, not only with Lucy but for Charlotte and their parents.

"It's become more than an adoptive child," Ricker-Gilbert said. "That whole family has become part of our family."

Lucy became an official JU lacrosse member

Lucy became a fixture in the locker room before games and on the sideline when she was healthy and not in treatment. The team had activities with Lucy such as pumpkin carving, face-painting, ice cream parties, beach outings and arts and crafts parties.

JU players often visited Lucy at her home, where they grew just as close to Charlotte.

The relationship became official in March of 2022. Before a game against Furman, Lucy signed a contract making her a member of the team, was presented with her own jersey (No. 0), and her own lacrosse stick.

Jordan Donmoyer has been a basketball nut since he was a kid in Fort Myers playing for his father, an AAU coach who worked at camps run by the legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski. Donmoyer joked that he was hoping Friends of Jacyln would connect his family with Duke basketball.

But he said he wouldn't change a thing even if Krzyzewski showed up on his doorstep.

"We fell in love with that team," said Jordan Donmoyer. "When we first got connected with these girls we didn't know what to expect. Now I watch more JU lacrosse than I do Duke basketball. The players and coaches, both Mindy and Tara, have been unbelievable to our family."

"They're Dolphins forever," McCord told the school's website after the 2022 ceremony.

Lucy has a lasting imprint on the program

Lucy's neuroblastoma turned high-risk during the late summer of 2023. She came close to death twice, the second time during a visit to her mother's hometown of Tallahassee when she needed an emergency craniotomy.

Jordan Donmoyer said his daughter was scheduled for a trial procedure in August but it was futile.

"The disease just spread so far, so fast, we couldn't go forward with the trial," he said. "We brought her home and spent whatever time we were going to have left with her.

Lucy turned 8 years old on Sept. 19, 2023. She passed away seven days later.

More than 500 people attended a celebration for Lucy at St. John the Divine Greek Orthodox Church, including the entire Dolphins lacrosse team.

Lucy's legacy with the JU lacrosse program is everywhere. There is a Lucy Rose of Sharon bush planted near the lacrosse building (Rose is her middle name) and the team wears T-shirts during practice and warmups with a pink No. 0 in her honor.

The team carries a pink flag that says, "Lucy Strong" onto the field before every game.

Every week during the season, a player is honored with the "Lucy Award" for tenacity and determination.

During one of the team's many parties with Lucy, when there was finger-painting, she did her handprint on a piece of paper. It is now on a wall in the locker room.

"We high-five Lucy every day," Ellis said.

The two sisters had 'unmatched energy'

With Lucy's passing, the team has poured their affection onto Charlotte, a healthy, active child who participates in pregame warmups and probably has a chance to be a pretty good lacrosse player once she grows taller than the standard 43-inch stick used in the sport at the college level.

"She's just like Lucy … their energy is unmatched," said Boyle. "Charlotte is a crazy little spitfire and so was Lucy so she was feeding right off her energy."

Boyle said the Donmoyer sisters "are both little rascals. Charlotte's a little pistol. We love her for it."

Charlotte Donmoyer says she loves lacrosse, "because I just do" and basks in the attention given to her by the players and coaches.

"I like JU because they give me kisses and come visit me at my house," Charlotte said.

Jessica Donmoyer said McCord stressed to players before she left JU to take the job of building a lacrosse program at the University of South Florida that they needed to maintain ties with Charlotte.

It wasn’t a hard sell and Charlotte inherited her sister’s four dozen big sisters in the Dolphins’ players and coaching staff.

"That's been so huge for us and Charlotte," Jessica Donmoyer said. "We're extremely grateful the team has stayed with us. The players' parents have also embraced us, and we've become friendly with so many of them. You can see by being with them where their daughters get their compassion."

Dolphins players and coaches say their relationship with the Donmoyer family is a two-way street and has been a big part of their team unity.

"That family has brought more into this program than I could even say," Boyle said. "They have taught us what resilience looks like, what fight looks like, and how to be strong and brave and fearless. They have brought us closer together and we're very grateful for that."

"That family is our family," Ellis said.

The example of Lucy's courage and how her family dealt with the grief of losing a child has had exactly the effect on the team Ricker-Gilbert thought it would.

"More than anything, it has provided perspective," he said. "We play sports. We watch our athletes on the field but what truly matters are our families and loved ones and being there for each other. We miss Lucy every day but having Charlotte and her parents with us means the world."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Lucy and Charlotte Donmoyer have been 'gifts' to the Jacksonville women's lacrosse program